You could just get together the things to make vegetable soup and spam power attacks with 3 stam.

My current character uses two-handed (greatsword) exclusively. Its a role-play choice, mostly (love those decapitations) but it's working well for me. Pretty much EVERY attack I make is a power attack, so doing more damage with a single (slower) attack makes sense for my character. TBH, as a player I don't really have the skill / reflexes (could have to do with my choppy frame rate and the fact that mouse & keyboard svcks for such things) to block or make dual attacks very well, but running up and making a standing power attack (or better yet, standing there and waiting for the enemy to teach me, timing my attack so it hits just as they get in range) is right up my alley.

I use one handed/shield in interiors, due to the the 2hs being clumsy, but out doors, ill use a 2h, Never dual wield though, I would if I was an assassin though

Interesting. I don't use two handed. I am a dual wielding one hander all the way, but I have noticed recently that my daggers do almost as much damage as my swords, at least in percentage terms. So maybe I am seeing the same thing you are -- the more you smith the weapons, the more your damage is based on the smithing, rather than the base damage for the weapon. It has gotten to the point where I rarely use swords anymore.

Now I just dual wield daggers. With the 15x perk and the master sneak perk that lets me land one of those 15x hits whenever I want to, its an unstoppable combination.

Started with a hammer and ended up with a sword => one hand

I dual wield and use a greatsword with perks in both trees. My characters are usually Conan like and have skills in all the warrior trees . I haven't really run across anything I cant decimate in a few seconds.

My assassin/bow user and pure mage both have a 2H sword as backup, just in case someone gets close to them. Rarely have to use it, though.

My warrior, again 2H sword - 3, maybe 4 hits and their health is down far enough so that a power hit (coming straight down in front on top of the enemy) will finish the job. He has a bow as a second weapon, just to pull the enemy closer, then switch to 2H sword.

The warrior is the only one with some perks in 2H skill, the two other characters level 2H as they're going around and using it.

I do use enchanting - but not power leveled - to enchant the swords and bows, and also armor for the mage - increased mana, health, mana regen, that type of thing.

Definitely One-Handed,because it is much more versatile.

While that is true to an extent, once you introduce weapon damage enchantments there's really no contest. Daggers don't gain anything from Fortify One-Handed enchantments while Swords do, making them superior damage wise in every situation. Results begin to become even more one-sided when you introduce potions that temporarily increase your one-handed damage (Which does not effect daggers). Yes, there's an item that makes the 15x multiplier into a 30x multiplier, but that same item makes a sword's 6x multiplier into a 12x multiplier so it's a moot point (Just bringing it up before someone else does).

While I have not dabbled much in the ways of Sneaking, the only thing I can see is that Daggers are much more quiet, although I'm not really sure how much of a factor that is if you're properly equipped and trained in Sneak.

I have heard tell of that item you mention that gives a 30x multiplier, but I have not come across it myself, although I can get an equivalent of 30x by dualwielding daggers. I wonder, does that item you mention let you get double 30x for dual wielders?

I have noticed that the enchantments that increase one handed do not effect dagger damage, but it is still not enough to make up for the the difference between 6x and 15x.

You haven't dabbled in sneaking? Well, the master perk lets you get the 15x whenever and whereever you want, regardless of whether you snuck up on someone or not. It basically makes you invisible and undetectable for a couple of seconds and during which time you can get a quick dagger attack in for the 15x bonus. So, run up to the toughest baddie in the game, make as much noise as you want, let him hit you a couple of times and then just tap the sneak and execute a quick dual strike with your daggers for double 15x and watch him crumble at your feet, often with a throat slit animation.

The item just doubles the critical hit multiplier. Perks considered, it turns a 15x Dagger sneak attack into a 30x Dagger sneak attack. Dual-Wielding or otherwise. It also turns a 6x Sword sneak attack into a 12x Sword sneak attack.


Provided you've done things correctly, Swords come out on top. If you haven't, well yes, it won't make up for the difference. That's mostly on you though.


I'm aware of that technique, but I was speaking about sneaking to remain hidden. What I meant when I said that I haven't dabbled in Sneak was that I haven't really used a perked Sneak with the proper equipment extensively. I'm aware of the perks and their functions however.

I didn't understand how powerful the master sneak perk would be until I started using it. As for enchantments, I purposefully have avoided those in general (other than elemental resistances) cause they seem way too powerful.

I understand how powerful it is and I have seen it in action. However, isn't it kind of ironic that you use said technique and claim that you've avoided enchantments because they seem too powerful? o.o... o.O ... O.o...

Two-Hand by a mile, I freaking hate the DW attacks rooting me in place and no DW run attack. I also hate the quickslots bind + DW bug.

Switching to a quick heal spell and I can't switch back to the DW weapon without opening QS again.

this really is the answer for people who get too powerful in one or the other. If your one shoting with two handed weapons and getting bored, use one handed weapons instead. And vise versa

Oh how you couldn't be any more incorrect.

you can do more damage with one handed weapons

Yes, you can do far more DPS with one-handed weapons. Especially when dual-wielding.

I'd like to see a DW char kill an entire room of enemies with 1 sweeping strike...

Seriously, with my 2H sword, I walk into a room, wait for all the enemies to swarm on me, then clear the entire room with 1 click. How's that for DPS?

Legendary Dragonbane + Legendary Skyforge Axe with Paralyse 2 seconds.

The axe is lethal, but it turns combat into a kill fest very fast.

It's not much in terms of DPS but rather high cone burst damage. A proper dual-wielding character will beat a proper two-handed character to the punch 9 out of 10 times. You will not always get a bunch of weak enemies all properly aligned to get hit by a sweep power attack (Which is extremely slow by the way). Most enemies worth their salt will survive that and most situations one encounters (Based on my experience) will be more suited for dual-wielding to run right through far faster than someone wielding a two-handed weapon.

Personally I prefer one-handed + shield because there's more finesse to it than either two-handed or dual-wielding and you don't lose out on too much damage and gain much more versatility.

I'm just putting it out there for everyone who insists that DW beats the crap out of 2H for DPS. That is not always the case and the real answer is that it depends on the situation. 1 on 1 with a tough enemy (such as a dragon or a boss), yes, fair enough, but in a room packed full of weaker enemies? Not a chance.

Even when facing just 2 enemies, a 2H using sweep effectively doubles its DPS, and this multiplier increases linearly depending on the number of enemies within striking distance in an 180 degree arc infront of you. Due to the enhanced range of a 2hander, the sweep will cover a huge area so you don't even need to worry about precise positioning.

Another comment I've been seeing is that 2handers are rubbish at blocking. Well this isn't true for me. I have invested in all the perks up the right hand side of the blocking tree, and while blocking with my 2H greatword, I can tank giants for minutes at a time without healing. If I stop blocking then I probably won't last more than about 5 hits. It does make a huge difference to physical damage reduction, even without a sheild. Plus I can still power bash and disarm just like a shield user.

I'm not saying that 2H is the ultimate weapon, but I do not believe that the DPS race is as clear cut as some make it out to be.

Stamina is a wortless investment right now. Vegetable soup or a one point stamina absorb enchantment on a weapon and its possible to do power attacks non stop. This is serious flaw actually that magic attacks require different amount of magicka but powerattacks dont.(its enough to have 1 point to do it/absurd)

Two-handed DPS relies solely on the use of a very exposed and slow side power attack. Furthermore, it's reach isn't as great as you make it out to be. Most encounters I've seen don't have enemies who are all aligned with each other. Often times you will find enemies that are separated and even shooting you from different directions. Speaking about slow attacks, I find that EVERY two-handed weapon attack makes you a far easier target to arrows and magic than any other weapon attack.

In any case, I find that dual-wielding provides more consistent damage and more consistent DPS. You also get the versatility of doing less overkill damage far more quickly than a two-handed weapon can deliver. In addition, your power attacks do far more damage to blocking opponents because you deliver three strikes, three strikes of which the first strike breaks the block and then the two following strikes land block free delivering massive damage.

Honestly, what I've found with two-handed weaponry (Which I used for a great deal of my play-through) is that it's slow. It's very slow. Not only that, it limits your movement far more than one-handed weapons do, making your reach a non-factor in most cases. This is especially true in cramped dungeons. The slowed movement when striking also makes your footwork very inferior to someone using a one-handed weapon.

As for blocking, while I haven't tested it much for two-handed weapons, I've found that to reach the blocking cap, I need to have at least a shield, 5 rank +block perks, and a 40% fortify block enchantment. I imagine the requirement is probably a bit steeper for two-handed weaponry and it might not be capable of reaching the same blocking cap (Educated guessing based on the previous games). In any case, without a shield you lose out on the Deflect Arrows perk, Elemental Protection perk, a shield's armor rating (Which may or may not be a factor), a shield's enchantment, and most importantly, a shield's bash.

A shield's bash is far superior to that of a two-handed weapon. It fires off slightly quicker. It also has more range. Furthermore, it produces a much more staggering effect (Meaning enemies stagger for longer). This effect is further enhanced if you meditate on Fus. With a shield you also have access to shield charge which has the ability to trivialize nearly all melee combat (It's basically a melee Fus-Ro-Dah that you can do whenever you want as long as you can sprint).

Personally, I would find two-handed weaponry to be much more desirable if it didn't cripple your movement while swinging. If the swings were actually faster. The only thing a two-handed weapon has going for it is the sweep perk. That's the only thing it has going for it. It has far too many negatives for way too little positives.

Personally, after extensive testing, I feel that the race is clear cut. Sweeping is way too situational and waiting for enemies to align as you previously stated isn't my idea of fun. For me it's either finesse, versatility, and defense (Sword and board) or raw DPS with dual-wielding. It's really no contest. This is especially true when you consider that most enemies are capable of blocking. That a dual-wielding's perked power attack deals an insane amount of damage. That this particular power attack breaks through the block while still continuing on and getting hits in which are not blocked. You also have to consider dual-wielding's speed perks and that it has the most powerful power attack while perked.

Role playing wise, I like the concept of two-handed weaponry. Heck, I even tried it for a large portion of the game. However, it just didn't cut the mustard. Too many cons and not enough pros. I also don't find it as fun because footwork is severely crippled when using two-handed weaponry as opposed to one-handed weaponry. I find sword and board + block runner + quick reflexes to be the most fun. Just my two cents.

I prefer 1 handed weapons, i never was into the whole "overkill" stuff, like in fallout, i like the basics not the big stuff and just like fallout i prefer smaller weapons in skyrim. I also dont like how they carry it out at the side. Daedric Sword+frostbite (for the slow)